Internal combustion engine and method of operating the same



Aug. "2, 1932. w. M. zAl owsKY 1,869,455

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME Filled May 27. 1927 Z/HTER Ann/rs FIG 5- 71647212 JZcKH' w Q K5 a '2 5 anvwwoz WLADJMIR M ZAIKOWSKY.

WLADIMIR' Patented Au 2, 1932 M. ZAIKOWSKY, OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 STANDARD OIL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME Application filed May 27, 1927. Serial No. 194,575.

My invention relates to internal combustion engines, and more particularly to the form of engine disclosed in my earlier application Se-- rial No. 714,263, filed May 19, 1924. The present invention will be fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

' In this drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of an internal-combustion engine,

constructed in accordance with the invention Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same partly broken away; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan v1ew showing an alternative form of the invention.

trated is as follows:

The engine illustrated in the drawing is a ll-cylinder engine, of conventional typesa-vefor the appurtenances hereinafter more par-, ticularly described.

In the center of the head of each cylinder of the engine there is located a valve, deslgnated 1, which is illustrated as a conventionaltype of poppet-Valve but which m1ght take any other form. This valve is operated from the cam-shaft on the engine, in the same manner in which the regular intake and exhaust valves are operated,'save that its timing 1s difier'enaas will later appear. The Valve 1 communicates with a horizontal chamber 2 common to all four cylinders of the engine and extending across the same, as shown in Fig. 2. This chamber lies within the waterjacket space of the cylinder-head, as shown in Fig. 1, and is equipped with gas-cooling means, consisting of a honey-comb 3 made up with hollow walls which communicate with the water-jacket space of the cylinder head. This honey-comb gas-cooling element is built in sections,.ea ch section lying between an adjacent pair of the valves 1, that is, between the cylinders of a multiple-cylinder engine. At some convenient point, for example at the end of the cylinder-block, as shown in Fig. 2, the chamber is connected with the intake manifold of the engine, designated 4. This connection is controlled by means of a valve 5, which may be operated manually or by a governor or in any other manner.

The operation of the construction illusis opened more or less.

The valve 1, which I will refer to as the chamber-valve, is mechanically operated from the engine crank-shaft by mechanism ofthe ordinary type, not shown, and is timed as follows: It opens sometime after the intake-valve has closed, i. e., for example 90 above bottom dead center on the compression stroke, and remains open until shortly before ignition occurs, i. e., for-example 40 ahead of top dead center on the compression stroke. During this interval of 50 motion of the crank-shaft, gas is free to flow from the chamber 2 into the cylinder of the engine or in the reverse direction, depending upon the relative'pressures existing in the two from instant to instant. Assuming that the valve 5 is closed, so that there is no communication between the chamber and the intake-manifold ofxthe engine, there will be built up in the chamber a certainequilibrium pressure for any condition of load, speed, and throttle opening vof the engine. This pressure, for

example, may be at full loadAO lbs. where the compression ratio of the engine is 7%-to-1. Under these conditions the engine operates according to the cycle described in more detail in my earlier application referred to, viz: The compressed and cooled charge within the chamber escapes into the enginecylinder upon the opening of the valve 1 until pressure equilibrium is established by release of pressure within the chamber and simultaneous increase of pressure within the cylinder, part of such increase being due to the influx of "gas from the chamber and part to the movement of the piston on its compres sion stroke. For the remainder of the period of opening of the valve 1, gas flows into the chamber from the cylinder and is trapped therein by the closing of the valve, which occurs before ignition takes place, or, more accurately, before the flame propagation has advanced sufficiently to give any possibility of ignition of the compressed charge within the chamber.

When it is desired to operate the engine at reduced loads, in lieu of closing the throttle-valve of the engine and thus reducing the pressure in the intake manifold, the valve 5 This permits the compressed charge witmn the chamber 2 to escape back into the manifold, and inv efi'ect sets up a circulation of gas from the intakemanifold through the cylinder and chamber and back into the manifold. Accordingly as the valve 5 is opened or closed, the proportion of the total displacement which is thus circulated is increased or decreased, and in this manner the load on the engine may be controlled, While maintaining full pressure in the intake-manifold and avoiding the losses in eiliciency which result from the ordinary throttling eflect. Depending upon the timing of the valve 1, this method of control of the engine load, i. e., the engine torque, may be carried on progressively down to any degree desired. Reduction of torque or speed below the limits permissible by control of the valve 5 may be accomplished by throttling the intake-manifold in the usual manner, and it is obvious that throttling control may also be used under any load condition as a supplement to the control provided by the valve 5.

The construction described has the advantage of permitting high-compression ratios to be employed and the resulting high eiliciencies to be obtained, Without incurring risk of detonation or preignition. Under full load conditions detonation and/or preigni-' tion is prevented by utilizing the fullcooling effect of the chamber 2. There is a certain loss consequent upon this utilization of the chamber, which loss in part oil'sets the gain in efliciency resulting from the use of the higher compression ratio which the chamber permits. By my present invention'the losses resulting from the action of the chamber and its associated valve are largely overcome when operating at intermediate loads, for under these conditions, by means of the valve 5, the chamber pressure is maintained at a low figure. I have found that an engine will operate successfully under such conditions without preignition or detonation at compression ratios substantially exceeding those under which a normal Otto-cycle internal-combustion engine is capable of operating, using the same fuel in both cases.

In lieu of the alve 5, I may employ a power-driven reversiblepump 6. This pump may operate either as a mechanical reliefvalve to release gas from the chamber to the intake-manifold for low-load conditions, or it may operate in a reverse manner as a supercharging device to deliver combustible mixture from the intake-manifold into the chamber, from whence it is delivered into the individual cylinders of the engine through the respective valves. By the substitution of a .pump for the valve 5, as above described, it is therefore possible not only to add to the advantages of the invention described in my earlier-filed application, by maintaining higher efficiencies at low loads, but it is also possible and convenient to effect superchargi which the ible pump.

any condition. An example of a good timing to be employed When the pump 6 is used as a low pressure supercharger for the cylinders through the chamber 3, (the operation of the engine being otherwise the same as in present normal practice), is as follows:

Valve 1 opens 20 ahead of bottom dead center on the suction stroke, and closes 30 after bottom dead center on the compression stroke.

With this timing the pressure in the chamher 2 will be low, and the cooling element 3 may be eliminated.

It will be seen that my present invention is capableof use under widely varying conditions, the one extreme being the use of chamber 2 substantially in the manner of prior application #714,263, with the valve 5 employed to limit the effective action of the chamber at low loads when its full cooling effect is not needed, and the other extreme being the use of the chamber 2, with a low-pressure supercharger, as a means for supercharging, the cooling effect of the chamberbeing here of minor importance. Intermediate conditions between these extremes may of course be employed.

I claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine, a chamber adapted to receive combustible mixture under pressure from the engine cylinders, means for cooling the combustible mixture in the chamber, means for returning the cooled combustible mixture to the engine cylinders on the compression stroke and means normally operating to relieve partially and continuously the pressure in the chamber.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which the cooling means is a system of hollow walls arranged in the chamber and communicating with a source of cooling water.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, in

tially andcontinuously the pressure in the chamber and controlling communicationbetween the chamber and the intake manifold. 5. Apparatus according to claim 4, in which a reversible pump controls communication between the manifold and chamber.

6. The combination of an internal combuspressure control means is a reverstion engine cylinder having inlet and exhaust valves, an auxiliary chamber, a chamber valve afi'ording communication between the cylinder and chamber, means for opening the chamber valve after the intake valve has closed and for closing it before ignition of the charge in the chamber can take place, pressure control means on said auxlliary chamber, and means operable independently of the pressure in said auxiliary chamber for actuating said control means.

' 7. In an internal combustion engine, a chamber in communication with the engine cylinders, and a reversible pump connected to said chamber for supercharging the cylinders or withdrawing a portion of the charge therefrom.

8. In the operation of an internal combustion engine, cooling combustible mixture in a reservoir connected to the engine cylinders, permitting exchange of combustible mixture between the cylinders and the reservoir on the compression stroke before ignition of the charge in the reservoir can occur, and increasing or diminishing the pressure in the reservoir as the engine load increases or diminishes.

9. In the operation of internal combustion engines in which a portion of the charge is accumulated under pressure for return to the engine cylinders during the early part of the compression stroke, the improvement which comprises increasing or decreasing the pressure of said accumulated charge in accordance with the increase or decrease of power required from the engine.

10. In the operation of internal combustion engines in which at least one component of the combustion mixture is accumulated under pressure for introduction into the engine cylinders on the compression stroke, the improvement which comprises increasing or diminishing the pressure of said accumulated component as the engine load increases or diminishes, by permitting more vor less of the accumulated component to esengine cylinders on the compression stroke. WLADIMIR M. ZAIKOWSKY. 

